Good Monday morning.
I think we need to get something out of the way first – HOW ABOUT THAT AMAZING WEEKEND WEATHER?! Phew. Glorious. (Around the Capital Region, anyway; there was some rain in Western New York). Spring is finally here, and, true to upstate form, soon it will feel like summer, as we have some 80-degree days in the forecast.
Today will be mostly sunny with temperatures in the mid-to-high 70s, there could be a stray thunderstorm about.
It’s National Emergency Medial Services Week, which runs May 16 through 22. Here’s this year’s presidential proclamation, which, not surprisingly, focuses pretty significantly on the COVID-19 crisis and the fact that so many EMS workers – many of them volunteers – assumed the heightened risks associated with caring for Americans during the pandemic.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford authorized EMS Week to celebrate EMS practitioners and the important work they do in our nation’s communities. This year’s theme is This Is EMS: Caring for Our Communities.
EMS care, in case you’re somehow unfamiliar, may be provided by private ambulance companies, fire or police departments, a public EMS agency, a hospital or by a combination of these. EMS practitioners may be paid workers or community volunteers.
The emergency medical services system has its roots in a white paper delivered to then-President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. It was entitled “Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society” and identified accidental injuries as the “leading cause of death in the first half of life’s span.”
The report made recommendations for the prevention and management of accidental injuries, including the standardization of emergency training for “rescue squad personnel, policemen, firemen and ambulance attendants.”
This standardization led to the first nationally recognized curriculum for EMS – emergency medical technician – ambulance (EMT-A)–which was published in 1969. Many consider this document to be the birth of modern EMS.
it’s the first day of the two-day Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which gives thanks for the Torah (also, in biblical times, this was a celebration of the annual grain harvest….at that time, Shavout was was one of three pilgrimage festivals in which all the Jewish men would go to Jerusalem and bring their first fruits as offerings to God).
It’s also the conclusion of what is mandated in the Torah as the seven-week Counting of the Omer, beginning on the second day of Passover. The modern holiday is associated with the consumption of cheesecake, cheese platters and other dairy products.
And one more before we get to the news…it’s International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOTB), created in 2004 to draw the attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.
The date of May 17th was specifically chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder. it is is now celebrated in more than 130 countries, including 37 where same-sex acts are illegal.
Oh, and by the way? It’s Tax Day, belatedly. You’re welcome.
In the headlines…
Twenty-eight Senate Democrats yesterday issued a statement calling for Israel’s military and Hamas to reach a ceasefire agreement as news reports emerged of another night of devastating Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
Diplomats and international leaders were unable to mediate a cease-fire in the conflict, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting and the UN Security Council failed to agree on a joint response to the worsening bloodshed.
At least two people died and more than 160 were injured yesterday at an Israeli settlement in the West Bank when a set of bleachers collapsed at a synagogue, according to Israeli authorities.
Some Democrats and economists have begun to worry that President Biden, intent on FDR-like transformation of a wounded America, is doing too much, too fast.
Biden has revoked several of the executive orders issued in his predecessor’s last year in office that were penned to address conservative cultural grievances, including the sculpture garden he proposed on July 4 at an event at Mount Rushmore.
Biden also revoked a 2019 proclamation signed by then-President Trump that prevented immigrants from obtaining visas unless they proved they could obtain health insurance or pay for health care.
Venmo accounts for the president and First Lady Jill Biden were removed on Friday after BuzzFeed News said it easily found the first couple on the payment app – a discovery it said raised national security questions.
Fleeing virus-devastated economies, migrants are traveling long distances to reach the United States and then walking through gaps in the border wall. The Arizona desert has become a favorite crossing point.
A quiet revolution has permeated global health circles. Authorities have come to accept what many researchers have argued for over a year: The coronavirus can spread through the air.
The U.K. relaxed restrictions on its economy and social contact further today, but the spread of the Covid variant that first emerged in India is threatening a full lifting of measures.
Taiwan has imposed new restrictions including limits on gatherings in its capital as it battles its biggest coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic last year.
Another vaccinated New York Yankees staff member has tested positive for Covid-19, the ninth to do so in the last week, manager Aaron Boone announced.
Guitarist Eric Clapton detailed his “disastrous” health experience after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine and blamed “the propaganda” for overstating the safety of the vaccine in a letter the guitarist shared with an architect/anti-lockdown activist.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, facing blowback over the agency’s new liberalized mask guidelines, offered a stark reassurance: Only unvaccinated people are at risk if they take off their masks.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, in a series of interviews with yesterday’s morning news shows, said “evolving science” drove the decision to update the government’s guidance to allow those fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to shed their masks in most circumstances.
The CDC is recommending that schools stick to implementing COVID-19 health guidelines through the end of this school year.
The CDC’s new mask guidance threw a wrinkle into many companies’ reopening plans, raising questions about whether to speed up office-return dates.
Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco and Publix were the first to confirm updates to mask requirements, leading the way for mask-free shopping except where required by state or local mandate.
An 8-month-old baby boy from Baldwinsville in Central New York is the youngest person in the world to receive two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. (He’s participating in a clinical trial).
Pfizer, Moderna, Regeneron and others are sponsoring ads on TV, radio and social media to raise awareness of Covid-19 medicines and extol their virtues.
Frantic efforts to vaccinate people in an underserved area of Philadelphia underscore a difficult new stage of the nation’s vaccination campaign, as door-to-door efforts become the norm.
The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi reported positive results from a trial of its COVID-19 vaccine today after several months of delays.
Six of New York’s county executives called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to update the state’s COVID-19 protocols in accord with new federal guidelines that ease rules for fully vaccinated people.
Half of all New Yorkers have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, a major milestone in the state’s fight against the novel coronavirus.
Some 65 percent of Hamilton County residents are fully vaccinated against the virus, way better than the 36 percent of people nationwide and 41.6 percent across the Empire State.
New York City’s subways resumed 24/7 service yesterday, more than a year after Cuomo instituted nightly shutdowns to facilitate COVID-19 cleaning.
New York will continue to administer COVID-19 jabs at four MTA train stations — even though the pilot program has doled out fewer than 50 percent of what it could have.
Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s refusal to follow federal advice by easing indoor mask mandates has sparked confusion — and conflict — among New Yorkers who are hazy on which advice to follow, business owners griped.
With the governor’s office reviewing the mask rule, that could soon change, leaving instead a morass of different and conflicting city, county and business mask policies that could mean you are required to wear one at Target, but not at Walmart.
Midnight curfews for outdoor dining areas are being lifted today and indoor dining curfews will be lifted on May 31.
New York Republicans are heading for their first gubernatorial primary in more than a decade next year after former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino last week joined U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin in formally declaring a bid. (It could be a three-way contest).
Four women who have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment have received subpoenas to testify under oath, the latest indication that the state attorney general’s investigation into his behavior has entered a critical phase.
The Daily News endorsed Kathryn Garcia for mayor, calling her the “candidate best equipped to guide us through this difficult moment.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, an ex-NYPD officer and leading Democratic candidate to become New York City’s next mayor, has pinned his campaign on improving public safety.
Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, has called money the “enemy of politics.” But his fund-raising has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of campaign-finance and ethics laws.
Former state Comptroller, the first Black person elected to statewide office in New York and onetime gubernatorial contender H. Carl McCall endorsed Adams for mayor.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top-ranking Democrat in the city’s delegation to the House of Representatives, threw his weight behind fellow progressive Maya Wiley in her mayoral bid, calling her a “change candidate.”
The decision by Jeffries, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, comes at an inflection point both for Wiley and in the volatile race more broadly, nearly five weeks before the June 22 primary that is likely to decide the next mayor.
Likely voters in the Democratic mayoral primary say public safety is their number one concern — and a significant majority support increasing the size of the NYPD budget, according to a new poll.
Months after making bombshell allegations of sexual misconduct against Cuomo — putting her at the center of one of the biggest scandals in the state in recent memory — Lindsey Boylan is finally having fun.
Staten Island is where you’re most likely to encounter New Yorkers with legal handguns, a Daily News analysis of Police Department permit data shows.
A good Samaritan was bitten and choked on the D train at Columbus Circle Saturday, in the latest off-the-rails subway attack.
One of the victims of a horrific subway stabbing spree lost his eye in the attack — and the teenage suspects staged the early-morning rampage as part of a gang initiation, prosecutors said.
A group of New Yorkers leery about a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes learned the blocks and blows that could fend off a racist attacker and other self-defense strategies, including keeping a safe distance from someone acting erratically.
L.G.B.T.Q. police officers will not be allowed to participate as a group in New York City’s annual Pride march, and organizers said they will rely on private security for their events.
The NYPD slammed NYC Pride organizers for their “hurtful” decision to ban groups of cops from marching or participating in the celebration, calling the move “disappointing.”
De Blasio must soon make crucial decisions about COVID-related medical waivers for teachers, remote schooling and social distancing for September.
The mayor’s height and security team leave him out of touch with the reality of subway safety, Interim Transit President Sarah Feinberg said as she continued the drumbeat to get more cops underground.
That one of New York City’s Jewish yeshivas might do a poor job teaching secular subjects like math and English is “highly concerning” — but not something the state Department of Education can address right now, the department’s commissioner says.
Most Democratic New York City voters want the next mayor to wrest control of the city’s subways and buses from Cuomo and the state legislature, according to a new poll.
School districts across the Capital Region have submitted 2021-22 budget proposals, and most of the plans are non-controversial and keep property tax levies within the state’s 2 percent tax cap. Voters go to the polls tomorrow.
The Saratoga Senior Center is launching a pilot program that aims to help seniors navigate the social, emotional and community needs that arise in the aftermath of a newly diagnosed serious illness.
Residents of two homes on a street off Delaware Avenue woke up last week to find portions of their backyards had been wiped away by a landslide.
Split the Bill, a promotional campaign created to spur sales at an individual city’s restaurants on one day of business, will be held tomorrow at 28 participating downtown dining spots in Albany.
A tiger seen wandering a Houston neighborhood last week was headed to an animal sanctuary yesterday after police released a video of the captured animal being bottle fed and petted.
Just in time for beach season, Andromache, an 11-foot-long, 659-pound great white shark has taken up residence in New York and New Jersey waters.
Microsoft board members made a decision in 2020 that it wasn’t appropriate for its co-founder Bill Gates to continue sitting on its board as they investigated the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with a female employee that was deemed inappropriate.
Melinda French Gates long voiced concerns about her husband’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and a harassment claim against his money manager.
Prince Harry is taking heat for calling the First Amendment “bonkers” in a recent podcast interview.
RIP Damon Weaver, who at age 11 became one of the youngest people to interview a sitting president, and who later gained attention for scoring other high-profile interviews with celebrities like Dwyane Wade and Oprah Winfrey. He died on May 1 at the age of 23.
